To Thaw
by Streaks of moonlight
Summary: For the past 14 years of her life, Elsa lived as a recluse, willingly locking herself away from the world and living in content until that fateful day when she meets Jack. She then finds herself thrown into wild conflicts that she never thought that she'd face, new relationships that she never knew she could create, and old bonds that she never imagined she could recover. Modern AU
1. Introduction

_Disclaimer: I don't own the cover photo, Frozen, Rise of the Guardians, or any of the characters. I only own a cardboard painting of JElsa._

* * *

A six year old child sat on the steps of her porch, admiring a dandelion that would have its buds soon blown away by the wind. It's stem was thin, thus making it easier for the breeze to rock it back and forth like a clock ticking to keep time. The child tilted her head, her platinum blonde braid shifting slightly on her back as she contemplated on whether or not she should pick it up and disturb it's ticking.

From a distance, howls of laughter and foul remarks were shouted towards her direction. Elsa kept a cool, uncaring face as she continued to admire the dandelion beside her, not giving them the reaction that she knew would satisfy them. It was like what mama and papa said many weeks ago when they found out about the bullies, Elsa thought to herself, gingerly picking up the dandelion. In order to live through people's cruel ways, one shouldn't be able to show any signs that it affects them even though it did. Conceal it, don't feel it, don't let it show, then they won't know and eventually they'll leave you alone.

"Only my grandma can have hair as white as that!" a kid shouted, his voice coming closer.

_Conceal it._

"Look, she can't even hear us! I bet she's just as deaf as your grandma."

_Don't feel it._

"Maybe she's a vampire. Vampires have really white skin too."

Bouts of laughter erupted and Elsa picked the leaf off of the dandelions stem. She'd heard that a flowers leaves can make it's water smell. Would that happen to the dandelion? Was a dandelion even a flower?

"Hey! Leave my sister alone!" Elsa froze and turned her head, her eyes wide as saucers as Anna waddled down the porch's steps and take her place in front of her. Elsa shook her head.

"Anna, go back inside," Elsa chidded.

"No, Elsa! These meanys are bullying you!" she exclaimed. The children in front of them snickered.

"So the vampire can talk, eh?" one of the taller children spoke up. "Hey, Anna, did you know that your sister's a vampire?"

"Elsa's not a vampire," Anna defended, her cheeks puffing in annoyance.

"Then explain her white hair and white skin," a female child said, tugging Elsa's braid roughly. Elsa winced in pain and placed a hand on her braid, pulling it away from the other child's grasp.

"I would like it if you leave us alone," Elsa said, her voice monotone.

"No way!" another kid exclaimed, bouncing a baseball in his hand. "Hey, I got a game for us to play."

"What is it?" the female that was previously tugging Elsa's hair asked.

The child with the baseball held the ball roughly in his hand and gave Elsa a sinister smile. "Catch." With that, he threw the ball roughly with all his might. Unfortunately, it didn't hit his target. Instead it collided with Anna's head, a large thump ringing in the air as everyone stared in utter horror as Anna fell to the ground.

"A-Anna?" Elsa whispered hoarsely, bending down to examine Anna's wound. She gasped at the sight of crimson blood streaming down her sisters face and screamed. "Mama! Papa! Anna's hurt!"

The children around them quickly scrambled back, panicking as they rushed off to hide from the adults that would punish them.

The doors opened just as the children left and out came her parents as they rushed to Anna's side. Elsa's father picked her up and at the sight of blood, frowning deeply. Elsa's mother gasped at the sight and already knowing what to do, pulled her keys out of her pocket and quickly turned the engine on, the sleek, black Cadillac purring.

"We need to take her to the hospital," Elsa's father said urgently, his voice cracking as he stood up with Anna in his arms. "Elsa, let's go."

Elsa nodded, her throat dry as she guiltily stared at her limp sister being carried in her father's arms. She averted her eyes away and stared at the dandelion in her hands, watching with solemn eyes as the wind blew away all of it's buds.

It was all her fault.

* * *

"Mama, I don't like the hospital," Elsa remarked softly, her hands holding onto each other as they rested on her lap. She was currently sitting on one of the cushioned chairs in the waiting room with her mother right beside her. There were other children around the room, staring and pointing at her as they spoke in failed hushed whispers. She crinkled her nose at the strong smell of disinfectant and resisted the urge to make a face.

"Many people don't like the hospital," her mother agreed. "But the hospital is a magical place."

Elsa raised a brow, suddenly curious. "How?"

"Well, in the hospital there are new lives." Her mother reached out and tucked a strand of blonde hair behind Elsa's ear. "Many people are born in a hospital like you, and Anna, and me, and your papa."

Elsa giggled. "That rhymed."

Her mother chuckled and patted Elsa's head fondly. "Hm, it seems that it did… The hospital is also a place where lives can be saved," she continued. "Anna is in one of the rooms right now and a doctor is saving her. If it weren't for the hospital, then no one would be able to be saved."

Elsa's smile disappeared and was replaced with a sullen look as she looked away from her mother. "I hurt Anna," she whispered more to herself. "If it weren't for me, then she wouldn't be here. It's sad, mama. Whenever I'm not with Anna, she's okay, she's safe, she gets along with the other kids and she's happy. Mama, I don't want Anna to be with me anymore."

"You don't mean that," her mother spoke, placing a comforting hand on her back. Elsa shook her head.

"I do, mama. Please, don't say no. I don't want to take Anna's happiness away just because I'm different."

"But different is good. Don't blame it on yourself, love."

Elsa remained silent and solemnly stared at her hands, her mind repeating the events that lead to the hospital visit. The way the other children jeered at her and the awful thud that rang in the air after the ball hit Anna's head was a torture for her but she couldn't bring herself to stop replaying the events.

Her father appeared by her side and gently tapped her chin, making her look up at him.

"Are you okay, Elsa?"

She shook her head. "I'm not okay if Anna's not okay," she replied. "How is she?" Her father took his seat on the vacant chair on the other side of Elsa and held her hand.

"I'm sure Anna's fine. The doctor will let us know soon. Look, that must be him right now."

A man with a white coat stood in front of the family, his forehead graced with worry lines and his mouth set in a frown. Elsa hoped that the frown wasn't because of Anna's condition.

"You're daughter is in stable condition," the doctor said, to which brought a sigh of relief to her parents. Elsa tilted her head, confused.

"What does that mean?" she asked.

"It means that Anna is okay," her father translated. Elsa brightened.

"Anna just received some stitches," the doctor continued. "We've gone through some scans to check her brain for anything that the injury caused and found that she has an amnesia. Fortunately, it isn't so bad. She's just forgotten the events that happened from the time that she woke up to the time when she received the blow."

Elsa's mother breathed another sigh of relief upon finding that it was just amnesia and not something that would disable Anna from everyday activities. "Thank you so much."

"Not a problem. I understand how pitchers can have a tendency to miss their aim. It was nobody's fault," the doctor said.

"No, it was all my fault," Elsa protested softly. Her parents and the doctor looked at her. "If it wasn't for me then Anna wouldn't be here. There was a mean kid that was aiming the ball at me but Anna was in the way. That's why she got hurt."

"That accident was meant for you?" the doctor blinked. He looked at Elsa's mother and father with a concerned expression. "It seems that your daughter is a victim to bullying. I think it would be wise to keep her away from them, lest another accident happens again."

Elsa's father nodded, taking his advice into consideration. "We will. We'll keep our daughters out of harms way."

"Good, good. If you'd like, you can go and visit Anna now. She might be asleep for the rest of the day but you can whisper some words of encouragements as she sleeps to help her feel better."

"Okay, thank you again, doctor," Elsa's mother said, standing up. The doctor nodded and took his leave.

Elsa's father and mother looked at each other, conversing through their eyes before looking down at Elsa.

"Elsa, how would you feel if we kept you and Anna indoors, away from the children?" her father asked. Elsa looked down, imagining what it would be like to never go outdoors. First, she wouldn't be able to see the bullys ever again so that was a good thing. Second, she would never have to worry about anyone making fun of her so that was another good thing. But Anna…

"I don't think Anna should stay indoors like me," Elsa replied. "The other kids won't hurt her so it's okay for her to go outside. I should be the only one that should stay inside."

"Is that really what you want? You won't be able to go to school anymore..."

Elsa nodded confidently. "Yes." Not going to school was even better for her. The bullying was much more intense there than at home so she knew for sure that she would be fine.

"Alright," her father sighed and stood up, Elsa following him as he did so. "It looks like we'll have to find someone to homeschool you while we're off for work. But before we do that, we are going to take you to the music store once we're all ready to go home."

"Music store?" Elsa repeated, tilting her head as she followed her mother and father to Anna's room.

Elsa's mother nodded. "We're going to get you an instrument to play with so you won't get lonely or bored while you're at home.

"Instrument?" Elsa enunciated slowly. "Like papa's piano?"

"That's right," her father said, opening the door to the room. Together, they all entered and made their way to Anna who slept peacefully on her bed. Wrapped around her head was a bandage and attached to her arm was a wire that linked her to a machine that beeped beside her.

"Oh, Anna," Elsa breathed guiltily, taking her place beside her sister. "I am so sorry."

As Elsa watched Anna's steady breathing, she could feel her own breathing betray her. It was all her fault, she couldn't stop blaming herself for what had happened. From that day forth, whenever she looked at Anna, all she could see was the children crowding around her as they spat cruel words towards her direction and the baseball that was meant to be thrown at her only to hit her beloved sister that sent her straight to the hospital.

It was because of this that Elsa pushed her sister away, unable to contain the guilt that drowned her sanity.

* * *

_8 years later_

Stars were utterly fascinating. It was like glowing snowflakes glued to the sky and every time Elsa looked up at it, she always felt a sense of contentment that nothing could beat. Well, that is unless it was Winter and those said stars were scattered all across her front lawn and porch instead of the sky.

Elsa leaned back against the steps of her porch, her feet resting on the first step. Her fingers caressed the strings of her viola gracefully as her neck craned to look at all of the stars above her head. When she first started stargazing from her window two years ago, she had been completely ignorant about constellations and astronomy in general but now she knew an abundant amount of information like how there was dark matter that lied around in space, invisible to the naked eye and how each of these stars could even be dead since light can only travel at such a high speed.

"If you keep looking up like that, you're neck is going to stay like that forever."

Elsa smiled and regarded her father with a small roll of her eyes. She straightened her neck and looked at her father while he took a seat next to her on the porch.

The first time that she had ever stepped onto the porch since locking herself in her room happened months after she got into stargazing from her bedroom window. She hadn't wanted to step outside of her room too early for fear that Anna might still be up so she had waited until she knew that she was asleep. With it being so late and Anna and the other people of the neighborhood fast asleep, she knew that she had nothing to be worried about.

Elsa continued to do this every night until it eventually became a habit. It was way past bed time and the stars were comforting in a sense that didn't make her feel exposed. The only time she would go outside like this was only near midnight when she knew that no one would be outside to see and/or harm her. She was always grateful for the stars' company whenever she went out for fresh air.

"The string broke," Elsa said lamely, looking at her viola. Her father leaned down to observe the instrument.

"Really? It doesn't seem like it." Although he was sounding incredulous, Elsa knew that he was only joking.

"That's because I already fixed it," she said as-a-matter-of-factly, raising her instrument.

Her father hummed as he continued to observe the viola before the corner of his lips quirked upward into a smile. "You've gotten better at it."

"Thank you," Elsa replied, her chin lifting up in pride at the praise.

They sat in silence for a moment, enjoying the night stargazing before continuing to converse again.

"So have you thought about going to the boarding school your mom and I were telling you about?"

"I have…" she trailed off. Her father waited for her response patiently, his eyes looking at the sky. When Elsa didn't reply, he tore his gaze away from the celestial beings to her and raised a brow.

"But…?"

"But I don't think I want to go and meet new people." Elsa placed her instrument back in her case and stood up. "I liked the thought of leaving to a new place at first," she conceded, "but I don't like the idea of the past repeating itself. I like how everything is going right now; I'm happily homeschooled by Hilda, you and mom are my best friends, I can watch over Anna without her seeing me, and I have a roof to live safely under in. I don't want to leave all of this, dad."

Her father sighed and stood up as well. "You sound older than a 14 year old right now, Elsa. It makes me wonder sometimes who's influencing you to sound like an old lady."

Elsa chuckled. "It can't be Anna so it's got to be either you, mom or Hilda."

Her father laughed and opened the door. "Ah, that's right."

"Dad, would it be fine if we play a bit before I sleep? I want to see if my viola still sounds good with its new strings. And Anna won't wake up; she's a heavy sleeper so it should be fine."

"So eager to play as ever, I see," her father said, entering the living room where the grand piano stood proudly at the corner near the window. It's color was sleek black, shining underneath the fluorescent lighting of the room. The keys were as white as a sheep's coat and polished down to the bone as well as the rest of the piano.

"What song do you want to play, Elsa?" her father asked, taking his seat on the polished bench. He shuffled through his collection of music sheets that was lying on the piano and paused, looking at Elsa with a thoughtful expression. "Unless you wanted to free play."

"I suppose we can free play," Elsa said, closing her case shut. As she propped her instrument onto the crook of her neck, her father stepped onto the pedal and positioned his fingers above the reflective keys.

It was only a matter of time until the whole house was echoing with music. The walls of the big house seemed to shake pleasantly to the beat, the floors vibrating in delight as it followed their tempo. The crickets outside had stopped chirping; they listened intently to the music as the hopped and danced to the beat.

As the song went on, Elsa's brow furrowed upon realizing that she was beginning to lose her muse with each note she played. She struggled to keep up, playing a few long notes but eventually fell short. With each notes that she missed, she found herself getting gradually frustrated and crestfallen. Her father took note of Elsa's struggle and slowed the tempo, playing more notes that complemented Elsa's playing whenever she missed her cue to play the a certain note. Just when she was about to stop playing, her father shook his head.

"You can do it Elsa, just don't think. Let it go."

And let it go was what she did. She closed her eyes and lost herself with the music as she heeded her fathers advice. She didn't care if she missed some notes anymore. She was enjoying the music she was playing and what made it even better was that she was enjoying it with the person that she loved.

Little did Elsa know that their two-people audience was leaning against the wall in the hallway that lead to the living room, listening contentedly to the music.

* * *

_2 years later_

"Do you guys really have to go?"

Elsa's father shrugged on a coat and buttoned it to his collar whilst her mother stuck her foot into her boots. It was snowing outside and the news had called for a snowstorm to happen later on in the night. Elsa knew that they shouldn't go. In fact, she didn't want them to go. This snow… she loved it but she had a feeling that something was going to happen. It was the first gut feeling that she'd ever had and she was confused on whether or not she should listen to it.

"It's just a quick errand, Elsa," her father assured, placing his gloved hands on her shoulder comfortingly. Elsa pursed her lips.

"How fast is quick?" she asked, surmising that the errand was for something like food or medication.

"Fast enough that we'll be back in an hour," her mother replied, kissing Elsa's forehead.

"I still don't think you guys should go; there's going to be a snowstorm…"

"There's no need to worry, darling," her mother said, tucking a strand of platinum blonde hair behind Elsa's ear. "We promise that we'll be back, okay?"

"Pinky promise?" Elsa asked. She knew that it was a childish thing to do but it didn't seem so childish to her. The first time she'd pinky promise with them, it was when they decided to not let her leave the house until she was ready to do it on her own accord after returning from the hospital with Anna. They still kept that promise to this day and she knew that they would never go back on that promise, or any other promise in general just as long as they all swore with their pinky.

"We promise," her father said, linking his pink with her own. Elsa's mother did the same and Elsa cracked a smile.

"Alright. Be safe, mom, dad."

"We will. We love you."

With that, they walked out into the dark, snowy night that will soon decide their fate.

~~ two hours later ~~

"E-elsa! Open up, please! It's about mom and dad."

Elsa's ears perked at Anna's urgent shouts and rushed to her door, opening it at a complete 180 degree angle.

"What happened?" Elsa asked, stepping out of her room. She had been waiting in her room for them for the past two hours, worried sick about them and wondering if they were already in the living room near the fireplace warming up. Of course, she had wanted to come down and check but she knew that Anna would've been in the living room either waiting or keeping them company.

Anna sniffled, her eyes bloodshot and her cheeks stained with tears. "They got into a-an accident and they're in the hospital right now. W-we need to check on them. Rapunzel came to let us know w-what happened and her boyfriend, Flynn, offered to drive us to the hospital."

Rapunzel was their beloved cousin so Elsa knew that her information could be trusted. It was because of this that Elsa could feel a ball forming at the base of her throat and her chest aching in pain. Her heart skipped a beat and she could feel the wind getting blown out of her lungs as she absorbed the information. She swallowed down the ball in her throat and with the steadiest voice she could muster, she said: "Go, Anna. They need you."

_Conceal, don't feel._

"Wh-what?! You're not going to come and see them?" Anna exclaimed incredulously.

_Conceal it..._

Elsa shook her head. "I knew something was going to happen," Elsa said quietly, turning around and returning to her room. She closed the door behind her, not even bothering to look at the stunned Anna. Elsa slid down against the door and sat forlornly on the ground. She brought her knees to her chest and rested her forehead against her knees as she wept quietly, her sight getting blurry and her heart in burning agony.

_Don't feel it._

She stayed like that for the rest of the night until morning in the same position while not getting any sleep. By then she had run out of tears to cry and energy to get up and get a glass of water to quench her thirst. There was a knock on the door but she didn't bother replying what with her throat so dry.

_Don't..._

"They died," Anna whispered, her voice so soft that Elsa almost missed it. "Rapunzel's going to help organize their funeral with me…." There was a pause. "You should help out too, Elsa. Even though you didn't go to see them last night, I know that you still loved them. And uh," she cleared her throat, "yeah… I'll be coming by every so often to ask for some suggestions for the funeral."

_Feel…._

A dead silence followed but Elsa knew that Anna was still there. She was waiting for her to reply and Elsa knew that she couldn't say anything to help her dear sister. If anything, she wanted to hug her and cry with her. That was what they both needed but she couldn't find herself doing it. She couldn't find herself being there for her own sister when she knew that she needed her more than anything in the world during this time of suffering.

After a moment more of utter stillness, Elsa could hear Anna's footsteps echo in the hall. She listened to it intently until it was nothing more than a distant sound because that was now the only thing that she knew was alive in this house. That was going to be one of the only things that she would be hearing in the house that didn't belong to her from now on. She memorized the footsteps tempo and it's hollow sound. She memorized everything about it until there was nothing more to memorize.

Elsa stood up and plopped down on her seat near her desk. She opened one of the drawers and took out a clean sheet of paper and a death black pen. She couldn't do anything for her parents but for now, she hoped that they would be content with her words. She wasn't planning on attending their funeral for fear that the kids that had harmed her and her sister back then would be there. Instead, she was going to let Anna say her speech for her.

After many paper crumpled balls and hard concentration later, she placed her pen down and leaned back against the back of her chair tiredly. Her unreadable azure eyes stared at the paper with beautiful cursive letters listlessly until she didn't want to look at it anymore. Her eyes found her viola resting against the wall near her door and she could feel her stomach dropping as she frowned.

Elsa stood up and grabbed her viola and placed it into her case. She grabbed all of her sheet music and stuffed it into a binder, reminding herself to put it in her parents closet on the day of the funeral. She placed the now full binder onto her desk next to her written speech and returned to her viola resting peacefully in her case.

Her pale, slender fingers caressed the strings, remembering her father playing with her and her mother humming the music that they'd played whilst cooking. Elsa closed her case and locked it. She opened her closet and turned on the light, placing her viola in the far side of the wall where she would never see it unless she looked.

She stood at the doorframe of her closet, her mind whispering and yelling and her chest protesting and shouting. With a sigh, she turned off the light and closed her closet, closing her emotions as well as she did so.

"Conceal, don't feel," she whispered the mantra aloud to herself.

* * *

**A/N: Welcome, my beloved readers! My name is Streaks and I have come to provide you all with JElsa feels that will stab you right in your shipper heart and leave you cooing at its adorkableness (er, at least, I hope it'll be adorkable).**

**This story is an extended version of my really long one-shot, How To Melt An Ice Queen's Heart, due to requests. Though, this story won't be exactly the same as that. After many hours of contemplation and eating oreos, I have come to the conclusion that I wanted this story to be a good read that you guys would read again and again and even have a bond with the characters while you're at it. So, I changed the plot a little bit as well as the characters personality. But only just a tiiiiny bit. (Okay I'm lying; I changed only the plot by a lot). But it still follows some of the events that happened in that one-shot and then some :)**

**That being said, I hope you will all enjoy Elsa's journey along with Jack and hopefully I will see you all in the end of every chapter! :D Reviews and favorites are always gladly appreciated, folks x)**

**- Streaks**


	2. Chapter 1: The Sarcastic Gentleman

Jack Frosts' new home was big. Reeaallly big compared to his old, one bedroom apartment back in Castelia City. Unlike his previous apartment, his new home was two stories tall containing three bedrooms and two bathrooms which resided in both the first and second floor. There was a balcony in the master bedroom - which will now become his room - and the front porch looked as if it could occupy at least more than 10 people at once. It was a good looking party house, but without a high capacity of people walking around, it looked too lonely for a guy like him.

It was more than perfect.

His new home was surprisingly affordable for a functioning house and although he didn't come to check it out before he purchased it, he had a feeling that it'd be good enough for him to live in for the next few years. Of course, that is unless he planned to stay here if he really liked the place. If he didn't then he'd just look for another place and leave this place as if he was never there in the first place.

Jack dropped his box down onto the tiled living room and checked his watch. The movers had told him that they'd be arriving in less than two hours once his piano and other furniture was placed safely inside the gigantic truck. Knowing how cumbersome his piano was, Jack knew that he had a lot of time left to spare.

"What should I do…?" Jack mused to himself as he ran a hand through his hair, looking at the boxes stacked in his spacious living room. Should he unpack? Jack snorted and snickered at the thought. Nah, it was too early for that - he could just do it later. Plus, he had to wait for the rest of his furniture to arrive if he was going to unpack.

Jack wiped away a bead of sweat that was rolling down his temples. On the way to his new home, it had been super stuffy in his truck considering that it was summer and it didn't help that his air conditioner broke just a day prior to him moving. Talk about inconvenient. For two hours he suffered the heat that threatened to burn him alive and he could only rely on the wind that blew from the open window of his truck.

Fortunately, he'd found his cooler while packing up his belongings and filled it with large chunks of ice and water bottles right before he left his old home. The said cooler was waiting patiently in his trunk, waiting to be opened and Jack was a gentleman enough to know that he shouldn't keep his lady waiting.

He left his house and went to the driveway where his truck was parked. He climbed onto the trunk and opened the cooler, relieved upon seeing that the ice hadn't completely melted during the long drive.

"Miss Cooler, I don't think I'd ever live again without you," Jack murmured, closing the cooler and patting the lid affectionately. He hopped down from the trunk and opened his bottle of water, making his way to the sidewalk as he did so. He turned on his heel to look at his new home, taking a sip from his bottle whilst admiring the large house.

That was better. A nice, cool drink underneath the super hot sun was a good way to start his new beginning in this neighborhood.

He wondered idly what his new life here would be like. Unlike his previous life back in the city, this seemed like a much more mellow place to live in. It wasn't as hectic and noisy and it definitely lacked the smell of carbon dioxide. He had a feeling he was going to like this place but at the same time, he felt like he was going to miss his city life as well since he'd been born and raised there. In short, it was a bittersweet feeling. He was going to have to go back for a visit again someday in the near future once he was ready, he decided.

There was a soft nudge against his side, causing him to snap out of his musings. He turned his head and found himself staring at the most interesting human being that he'd ever seen in his 22 years of living.

Just like him, she had platinum blonde hair that was tied into a low and somewhat messy bun. Her skin was pale, almost as pale as his, and her sticking azure eyes seemed to pierce through his soul, causing him to shudder slightly under her gaze despite the warm air. She wore beige shorts and a blue floral blouse, it's color causing her skin to appear radiant. Her slender hands appeared to be shaking but she suddenly held onto it as her gaze steeled and her back straightened. There was suddenly a new aura surrounding her, one that would scare a rabid wolf back to the mountains.

Cool.

"Hey," Jack greeted, flashing her a smile. Elsa flinched slightly, her composure lost for a moment before she got it together again.

"Good afternoon," she returned stiffly, her velvet voice regal and poised.

"The name's Jack. Who might you be?" he asked, his tone light and welcoming. The woman looked down at her watch and bit her lip, her brows furrowing as she did so.

"I need to go. I'm in a rush," she said coldly, walking around him.

If she was planning that that would be enough to chase him away, she was wrong. Her distant and cold ways had only managed to pique his interest, causing him to become even more smitten. Now that he thought about it, there was something familiar about her - almost as if he'd read about someone like her somewhere.

"That wasn't very nice," Jack commented, following her. "The polite thing to do would be to offer your name in return, you know."

"I really don't have the time…" she mumbled through gritted teeth, quickening her pace.

"Sure you have! You have all the time in the world. Why don't you use five seconds of your life to grace me with your name?" he replied easily, unaffected by her aloofness as he matched her pace.

"I'd be wasting five seconds that I will never be able to take back," she returned bluntly. Jack raised a brow.

"Ouch," he said, feigning a heart attack as he placed his pale hand over his chest. "You're a very mean lady. Is asking for your name really too much to ask? I'm not looking for your last name or your history or anything. I just want to know what your name is so I won't have to call you 'mean lady' every time I see you."

Elsa stopped and face-palmed, unable to take his persistence any longer. Why couldn't he just leave her alone? Not once in her childhood life did anyone ever make it a point to know her name. It was disturbing but at the same time somewhat flattering. Elsa dug her face deeper in her palms at the thought. Flattering? Who was she kidding? He'd probably use her name against her and make fun of her. This wasn't going to end well, she thought remorsefully to herself. She knew that she shouldn't have left the house...

"Mean Lady, are you alright?" Jack asked. Elsa resisted the urge to rush back to her home. Instead, she sighed and relented for the sake of him never calling her 'Mean Lady' and for him to just leave her alone.

"Elsa," she mumbled, her hands still on her face. Jack tilted his head as he walked around to stand in front of her, unable to hear her clearly. He reached out and gently grabbed her wrist, moving it away from her face so she could repeat what she said without having something blocking her speech. Elsa froze and jumped at the contact, retreating several feet back to maintain a respectable distance between them.

"Sorry, I just didn't hear you properly," he said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "Would you repeat your name again?"

Elsa took a few deep breaths, calming her nerves and getting her composure back together. "My name is Elsa. Now if you'll excuse me…"

"Elsa…" Jack repeated as Elsa passed him. It was a peculiar name, surely not one that he'd ever heard before. It sounded foreign, like it belonged to a magical land… or something like that.

When he looked back up, Elsa was already gone. He turned around and saw her already at the cross-walk. She really walked fast for a petite person.

"Nice to meet you, Elsa!" Jack shouted after her. He waited for her to regard him with something like a wave or a glance but he didn't receive one. In fact, she didn't look back at all.

Jack glanced at his watch and found that it had only been nearly ten minutes. Funny, it felt like that exchange was much more longer than that. He had more time left to waste, but what'll he do? He had to wait until his furniture arrived before he unpacked so that there'd be a place to put them without it being scattered all across the floor so unpacking was definitely not an option.

His stomach growled. That was it - he was going to go to the market that he'd saw on his way to the house and buy something to eat. Jack then made his way to the market that was not more than a few blocks away, his stomach growling protests along the way.

When he arrived at the market, he welcomed the air condition with open arms and leisurely began to saunter his way through the aisles. He was tight on budget due to his recent purchase with the house and only looked at the items that were either under 15 dollars or were on sale. Most of the sale items were either chips, cookies or cereal, none of them standing out until he reached the end of the aisle.

"Frosted Flakes," Jack murmured quietly to himself in satisfactory, grabbing the cereal box off the shelf. "What the - six dollars for just one box? That's outrageous…" he muttered as he checked the price tag. He then shrugged, figuring that it was better than eating something cheap and nasty before turning his heel to make his purchase.

From the corner of his eye, a familiar blob of platinum blonde and blue captured his attention. He paused mid-step and turned his head to the direction where Elsa was and chuckled softly to himself as she hopped up to get a jar of nutella from the top shelf. He walked towards her, deciding to help her in her struggle.

The way that she jumped wasn't like anything he'd ever seen, Jack mused to himself. It was controlled, not messy like how he knew most people jumped. In a way, it kind of reminded him of how a queen were to jump. Wait, do Queens even jump? Wouldn't they most likely hop with style instead of jumping?

Wait… Queen… Ah! That's right, the Snow Queen.

By the time he reached Elsa, she'd already gotten the jar in her hands and a grin of triumph on her face.

"Hello, your majesty!" Jack greeted, "It's an honor to see you again."

Elsa yelped and dropped her jar of Nutella in surprise. "Jack…" she sighed, picking up her neglected jar of Nutella. Upon finding a dent, she frowned and returned it onto the shelf.

Jack took his place beside her and reached up, grabbing her a new jar of Nutella. "You like chocolate?" he asked, giving her the jar.

"Thank you," Elsa replied hesitantly as she took the jar with an apprehensive hand.

"You're welcome, my lady."

"I'm not your lady," Elsa stated flatly, walking towards the cash register with Jack on her heels.

"My mistake. I apologize, your majesty."

"Jack, stop."

"But you do remind me of a Queen, though. To be more specific, you remind me of the Snow Queen."

Elsa raised a brow. "Isn't she a character from that book?"

Jack nodded. "Yeah."

"You read," she deadpanned, giving him a disbelieving look.

"No, I don't read. I just happened to have heard that story from a drunken donkey," he remarked sarcastically.

"Donkeys would never get drunk, nor would they even tell you a story unless the person that was drunk was you," Elsa replied thoughtfully.

"Do you not understand the wonderful ways of sarcasm? Or was I just that good for you to not notice?"

Elsa held back a snort. "You were just that good," she replied sarcastically.

"It's good to know that my sarcasm is still as good as always," Jack said, satisfied with her answer.

"Do you not understand the wonderful ways of sarcasm?" Elsa repeated his words, "Or was I just that good for you to not notice?"

Jack nearly tripped over a cart that was being pushed beside of him and stared at Elsa who betrayed no emotion as she patiently waited for her Nutella to be scanned.

"That would be 5 dollars and 37 cents," the cashier spoke, interrupting Jack before he could say anything more. As Elsa reached into her wallet, Jack took out his money and counted the right amount before giving it to the cashier. When the cashier ripped the receipt and offered it to Jack, he shook his head and pointed to Elsa. By then, she'd already gotten her money counted and was staring at the cashier with a puzzled look when she saw the receipt.

"Your boyfriend payed for it," the cashier explained. Elsa's eyes widened as she choked for her response. It was all she could do to not laugh hysterically.

"He's not my boyfriend," Elsa stated with finality, glaring at Jack who was chuckling sheepishly. Elsa thanked the cashier and grabbed her item which was now in a plastic bag with the stores logo plastered on it's side. She walked to the exit and waited as Jack finished paying for his own item.

"I know that it isn't any of my business, but are you two really not together?" the cashier asked as he scanned Jack's item.

"We just met today," he replied honestly. "I don't think she even likes me that much."

"Bad first impression?"

Jack chuckled. "I don't even know. Maybe?"

The cashier gave him the final cost and placed the cereal box into the plastic bag. "It seemed like she tolerated you. I mean, just by listening to your conversation, you guys looked as if you've both known each other for a long time."

Jack gave him his money and grinned. "Really?"

The cashier nodded and handed him his receipt. "Really. Have a good day, sir."

Jack retrieved his receipt and after bidding farewell, headed towards the exit. As he made his way to the exit, he was surprised to see that Elsa was waiting for him. Once he was beside her, she gestured for him to open his free hand towards her. Jack complied, casting her a curious glance to see what she was going to do. Elsa dropped the money that was meant to be for the Nutella and walked away swiftly, leaving Jack dumbfounded.

"H-hey, wait!" he called out once he regained his senses.

"You shouldn't have paid for me," Elsa said, voice cold. "I had my own money that I could pay on my own."

"Right. And for that I'm sorry that I made you upset," Jack apologized, mentally slapping himself in the face as he matched her pace. He was taught to be a gentleman, not a creep.

Elsa sighed, bringing her hand over her temple to ease off an oncoming headache.

"I don't get it. Why are you being so nice to me?" she asked, looking at him with such an intense gaze that Jack didn't know whether he should be quivering in fear or staring in silent fascination at the hypnotizing color of her eyes.

"Aren't I supposed to be nice to a person that I just met?" He frowned. "Why are you asking, anyway?"

Elsa stared at him for a while, trying to find any sign to see if he was lying. Upon seeing that he was being genuine, she shook her head and tore her gaze away from him. "It's nothing."

Jack's gaze remained on her, wondering why she would ask such a question before shrugging it off. It wasn't any of his business, he thought to himself. He was going to respect her and leave the subject alone if she didn't want to talk about it. Besides, Elsa seemed like the type of person that would run away from him if he pryed too much and that was the last thing that he wanted her to do. Being new in town meant that he wanted to keep the first friend that he'd made there and that meant a lot for him considering how he was never good with finding friends worth keeping. He did not intend on chasing her away even if it meant dying of curiosity.

He looked at the sky and noted at how the sun was beginning to prepare for the afternoon. It was a sight to behold considering that he was unable to even see a clear sky like this in the city. He looked down at his watch and frowned. He still had an hour left until the movers came. He had no idea what he'd be doing until then.

"What do you do for fun around here?" Jack asked, looking at Elsa. The woman in turn seemed startled at the fact that he was engaging civil conversation with her. She looked down at her jar of nutella and placed a slender finger to her bottom lip, contemplating for a response.

"Since it's summer, why don't you go to the water park...?" she suggested. She didn't even know if there was a water park nearby. Living indoors for the majority of her childhood and teenage years impacted her greatly. Not only was she unable to catch up with the latest happenings, she was also unable to know of the latest installment of new entertainment in the neighborhood. The only person that she relied for new's was her T.V, the internet, and Hilda.

"Is that what you do?" Jack asked, trying to remember if he saw a water park nearby.

"No," she replied, grateful upon seeing that her house was finally coming into view.

"Then what do you do? I want to know what your majesty does during her free time when she's dying of utter boredom," Jack announced, making a lame attempt to sound regal. Elsa rolled her eyes. Jack was truly as silly person but it was more amusing rather than annoying.

"Why, I like to sit on my throne and think about how I am going to rule over my subjects," Elsa played along with him, giving him a sarcastic retort.

"Will your ice powers be involved in anyway?"

"Yes, it will. And if you don't stop pestering me, I will banish you from this kingdom."

Jack halted his walk which in turn caused Elsa to stop with him. With a grim voice, he said: "But your majesty, I am also a person that wields wicked ice powers so there's no need to use your powers; it will only serve to wear you out and I want nothing more than for your majesty to not be fatigued." Jack then knelt down, placing a hand over his heart as he looked up at her startled expression.

"With your permission, I would gladly love to become your knight and stay in this kingdom to serve you by your side."

Elsa looked down at him with wide, startled eyes unsure if he was really being sincere in protecting her. This was all only a joke for their own amusement, after all.

"No," Elsa answered, leaving the dejected Jack in his kneeled position on the sidewalk.

"Why not?" Jack asked, standing up.

"Because you need to prove your worth to me," Elsa replied. At this, Jack grinned. Prove his worth? Oh, this was going to be fun.

"Challenge accepted, your majesty. I will do everything in my power to prove to you that I am indeed worthy in becoming your guardian."

Elsa unconsciously cracked a smile. Upon realising that she was smiling, she gasped and covered her mouth in shock. She bit her lip and dropped her hands.

"Well, this is it," Elsa said, breaking out of her character as she stopped in front of the pathway that lead to her home. "When I got upset earlier about you paying, I'm really sorry about that. I just wasn't used to having someone be so considerate and so…"

"There's no need to apologize, silly," Jack said, patting Elsa's head who flinched and frowned at his action. To his pleasure though, she didn't pull away. "I guess I was being too forward... I think. I don't know, I just feel like it was my fault somehow. Anyway, I need to go and finish unpacking."

"I see. Good bye," Elsa said, making her way down the pathway and onto her porch. She unlocked her door and entered, all the while feeling Jack's gaze burning in the back of her head. Without turning around, she entered and closed the door shut, not once giving him a glance for fear that he might disappear.

Meanwhile, Jack's eyes were trained on her door, his thoughts going back to what the cashier had told him. Elsa tolerated him. If that were the case, then he'd hate to be the guy that she didn't tolerate. It was a scary thought to even think about considering her already cold ways towards him. But despite this, he had a great time with her even if it was just a trip to the store. Their conversations were the first genuine conversations that he'd ever had with anyone in a long time and he was going to cherish that.

"Bye, Elsa," Jack said softly. He then turned on his heel and made his way back to his own home, unconsciously whistling an old song that he'd only whistle when he was in a good mood. To his delightful surprise, his home was right next to hers.

* * *

**Reviews and favorites are always gladly appreciated :)**


End file.
